A first-half brace from Josh Walker saw Fulham Under-21s notch their second victory of the season, winning 2-1 at Stoke City’s Britannia Stadium.

Making the step up from the Under-18s, Walker looked lively from the start and determined to make an impression, which he certainly did. Both his goals came from the left, in a match where a well-organised Fulham defended resolutely and flooded forward in numbers when on the attack.

Full-back Jordan Evans was particularly impressive with a number of charging runs and he too was involved in both goals. The home side clawed one back in the dying stages but this was merely a consolation as the Fulham defence stood firm.

Stoke made an attacking start but couldn’t find a way past Marek Rodák in the Fulham goal. Two powerful strikes from both Oliver Shenton and Peter Odemwingie in the opening 10 minutes forced impressive diving saves out of the Slovakian goalkeeper as the home side were quick out of the traps.

Fulham’s first chance came in the 13th minute. Mattias Kait did well to craft some space on the right, though his teasing cross narrowly evaded the advancing Walker.

But the Whites’ number nine had his chance just a minute later. Evans’ cross from the left caused confusion in the Stoke box and Walker was the first to pounce. The forward latched onto the loose ball and confidently stroked home.

It was an even first half with both sides showing a lot of attacking intent. Whilst the home side edged possession, Fulham’s attacking play always looked the most dangerous and the lead was doubled in the 39th minute as Evans and Walker were involved once more.

An adventurous forward run from the left-back found him with space in the Potters box and he calmly turned to feed Dean O’Halloran. His excellent low ball was driven across goal to leave Walker with a tap-in for his second of the match.

Fulham’s double scorer made way in the 59th minute and was replaced by George Williams, who was returning after six months on the sidelines with a cruciate knee ligament injury.

The Welsh winger looked sharp and it took him just eight minutes to make an impact. Cutting in from the left-hand side, he produced a thumping 20-yard effort to force a one-handed diving save from Dale Eve in the Stoke goal. The rebound was collected by Fulham, but the shot was blocked and danger cleared.

Rodák remained relatively untroubled for most of the second half, but he did have to make a good save as the game approached the final 15 minutes. Dominic Telford’s 30-yard free-kick looked to be creeping into the bottom corner before the goalkeeper scrawled across to parry away.

There was nothing he could do about Stoke’s goal, though. A testing cross from Joel Taylor found Telford, who fired home from close range in the 88th minute.

That proved to be little more than a consolation for the hosts, however, as Fulham defended strongly to ensure their afternoon was not ruined. A deserved victory for Peter Grant’s men saw them leapfrog Stoke in the Barclays U21 Premier League Division Two table.